TAXI driver Ranachal Singh of Good Faith, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara appeared on Monday before Sparendaam Magistrate Zameena Ally-Seepaul to answer a charge of murder committed on Simone Hackett.Singh was not required to plead to the capital offence, which alleged that between April 16 and 19, at Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara, he killed Simone Hackett of ‘C’ Field Sophia.

Police Inspector Hattie Anthony indicated that the police file is still incomplete, thus the matter has been adjourned to May 18.

According to Anthony, during the evening of April 16, Singh, along with the woman’s child-father Clevaughn Hamilton, picked up Hackett from UG Access Road. The court heard that Hackett was taken further down the said road, and was killed.

The prosecutor added that Singh knew the man had killed Hackett, but still transported him to Mahdia, after the woman’s body was dumped. The taxi driver was detained after his bloodstained vehicle was found last Friday in Mahdia. The accused had reportedly instructed his girlfriend to wash his car.

Attorney-at-law Jerome Khan, representing the accused, said his client is innocent of the charge, and he is confident that the charge will be “worn out” at the end of the preliminary inquiry.

Last Friday, the dead woman’s child father, Clevaughn Hamilton, called “Quarters”, was also charged for her murder, and was remanded until May 18.

The mother of one was reported missing by relatives on April 17, after she had not returned the previous night from going to collect a package allegedly sent from Mahdia by Hamilton.

Investigators had questioned a bus driver and conductor who had transported Hamilton to the City a day before Hackett went missing.
The report of the post-mortem performed on Hackett indicated that she died as a result of incised wounds to the neck. Her body was discovered by two schoolboys on their way to school, and was positively identified by relatives.